ZWICK 4 PREZ;1787186 wrote:it also provides a ton of pollution. so.. there's that.
Depends if we are talking Sulfur emissions or CO2.
I am for the "clean coal" part that uses basically the coal fired version of a catalytic converter to de-sulfurize the emissions. This is beneficial for a few reasons.
1. SOx creates acid rain which is obviously a bad thing for the local environment.
2. It creates free/cheap artificial gypsum for drywall plants (don't have to dig the rocks out of the ground).
Now, the unfortunate thing that most liberals are aiming for, however, is to shut down coal due to CO2 emissions. This is just asinine.
If you want to regulate NOx, CO, SOx emissions by all means that is a great idea as they have immediate impacts on local weather/environments. But to shut down an industry because we BELIEVE it is causing temperatures to rise by 1/2 a degree, is asinine.
I am all for renewable energy sources, but we need to use them when/where they make sense (solar in the SW, geo-thermal in the MW, wind in the plains, etc). We have a ton of science behind certain renewable energy sources but many times the government won't get out of the way.
Here is the best for instance since I have actually been to a number of renewable energy source conferences and sat through many research paper discussions.
There is a process that is patented that will turn ANY organic trash (tires, food, paper, wood, etc) into a fuel similar to ethanol. They can liquefy any organic material into a fuel.
Why isn't this already happening to have an immediate impact on land fills, lessening our dependence on foreign oil, etc?
Well, the process involves either a catalyst or a bacteria (can be done with either depending on the trash) and needs to be heated up to somewhere around 1000 deg (going off memory, it has been a couple years).
Well, in order to heat up the organic trash to 1000 deg one needs an indirect fired burner system. The EPA sees the two words "trash" and "burner" in the same process and puts a big "HELL NO" on there because they ASSUME it is a trash incinerator. To be honest, the EPA engineers are the bottom of the barrel, the guys that barely passed and got their degrees typically (mostly civil).
So, the company that has this patent, what are they doing with it now since the EPA is in their way of turning trash into fuel? They make liquefied wood/smoke. They turn wood into liquid and make it food grade, then it is sprayed on your "smoked turkey" processed meats, it is also the "smokey" flavor on Burger King hamburgers (the grill lines are sprayed on with this stuff, no actual grill is ever used).
I kid not, this is the honest to God truth. We have the technology to turn a LOT of our trash into a renewable fuel but our own government is in the way.
